When Pat Elflein went on the IR, Dru Samia ended up being his replacement as the Vikings’ starting right guard.
It’s safe to say that Elflein has garnered a bad rap from plenty of Vikings fans for his performances in the past, but Samia has struggled as the fill-in.
Samia is ranked as the worst guard among qualifying candidates on PFF.
The Vikings also took three penalties on account of Samia in the loss to the Seahawks. He committed a fourth that ended up being declined. Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer recently talked about those penalties with reporters:
“It was really him being in bad position most of the time, or being over-aggressive,” Zimmer said, via Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune. “You’ve got to keep working on being in the right position and understanding that on double teams, you can go ahead and be as aggressive as you want, but if you’re reaching a guy or cutting a guy off, you’ve got to make sure [you know] where your hands are.”
Samia was thought by many to be an eventual starter for the Vikings after the team drafted him out of Oklahoma in the fourth round. Based on these 2020 performances, it seems like he may need more time until he’s fully ready for that role.
